So....today is our last day of sanity. Cheeto Mussolini is getting inaugurated tomorrow. But you know what? Biden had to just screw up one last time before going away for good. The parting gift? That tiktok ban that we've been hearing about for a while.
Now, a lot of people are wondering what the big deal with tiktok is and why the government is banning it. Is it really about data? I don't think so. I mean, American companies are just as intrusive with our data as Chinese companies, but apparently it's okay for American companies to be...because they're American companies. You don't want those darned commies to have your data though, do you? I mean, what will they do with it? Do you think Beijing cares what your typical American thinks? I mean they do, for reasons I'll get to later, but it's not about them spying on you. If anything, it might be more about the American government NOT spying on you.
Like, that's what this seems to be about in a sense. We don't want communist chinese companies spying on Americans and controlling social media networks, we want good old western companies, which all have good relationships with the American government. They want to spy on people, and it's okay when they just collect our data without permission, apparently (although it might technically be with permission due to TOS legalese that no one but lawyers reads).
And with that said, let's discuss what it's really about. It's about control. I mean, we're naive if we don't think that the US government spies on people via social media. And having a company controlled by a foreign adversary could throw a wrench into that. But it's also about another kind of control: information control. I'll tell you real reason the government banned tiktok. Remember Palestine? yeah. Tiktok was explicitly directing users to anti western content. It's all about the algorithms. Social media algorithms have been under fire over the past decade or so. it used to be, you go on the internet, and you dont get pushed one way or another. But, these sites develop algorithms that drive engagement, where if you like one thing, it'll try to give you more of that thing. Or you watch one thing, it'll try to give you more of that thing. It's been especially iffy in recent years since that applies...to politics...too. You watch one jordan peterson video, you suddenly get the entire alt right manosphere and the next thing you know you're posting incel crap online about how women are the source of all the world's problems. Or take reddit with the democrats. They have been viciously trying to control that platform. And in post 2016, there was all this fear of russians posting memes and influencing elections, and algorithms driving political extremism. The internet isn't just the internet any more. These algorithms control everything. They control what you see, and also what you don't see. And that's a powerful tool, because propagandists want you to see the "right" stuff and not the "wrong" stuff right?
Again, it's like 2016 in a way. Oh, you don't wanna see that RUSSIAN stuff, you wanna see this good old AMERICAN stuff. So just ignore that stuff about how the DNC kinda put their finger on the scale with the election, Russians are pushing that stuff to divide democrats. Focus on good old American stuff telling you that clinton is the most qualified leader ever.
I mean, for the record, I don't support ANY propaganda. I dont think we should just ignore what we're seeing with our eyes simply because we don't like the messenger. However, we should be interested in why these foreign adversaries are pushing this stuff, and what the implications are too. Free thinkers can walk and chew gum at the same time. We can be open minded, but also question everything, you know? May the truth win.
But let's face it, most Americans are really fricking stupid. And they are a lot more subject to propaganda than we would like to think they are. We like to think propaganda is what other people and other countries do, but in reality, everyone does it. Everyone is pushing a narrative, even me. Btw, Im not owned by anyone and my opinions are purely my own. But yeah, I do have a bias and an agenda sometimes, but then again, you probably know that by now if you're relatively smart. But yeah, most are dumb, and most just listen to what they're fed.
And in Israel-Palestine, we saw the results of that. Zoomers became radicalized and went apecrap over Palestine. We literally lost the young generation over the issue. Because you go in tiktok and their algorithms will just feed you videos about IDF soldiers blowing up babies. And let's be fair about this. It happens, it's wrong, criticizing Israel is good, but at the same time, do we really want this chinese company feeding explicit anti american and anti israel sentiment? And that's the rub. DO WE ACTUALLY WANT THAT? That's the problem with RT and russian FB memes in 2016 too. Do we want these foreign adversaries spreading propaganda that undermines support for our own country? And they do have a point there in that no we don't.
And that's why they banned tiktok. As far as the government goes, there are plenty of American companies with similar content formats. Youtube and facebook have shorts. Theres' no reason to use tiktok, and as an elderly millennial at this point (amazing how we moved from being young people to horrifically middle aged in the past 10 years), I never saw a point in tiktok. I have some zoomer friends who send me stuff from there, but i dont really use the site myself, nor do i really even like that format of memes. So yeah. We CAN just use american networks with american algorithms. And honestly, while I cant say that they're completely free speech any more in year 2025, they're still accepting of dissenting opinions. The problem is the algorithm makes you invisible if you're not like an establishment toadie. It's why actual independent media, people like say, Kyle Kulinski, have so much trouble growing. Companies like youtube will explicitly demonetize and bury such content to minimize viewership, and viewership only spreads via word of mouth. No fancy algorithm doing the work.
And the goal of that, from the American government's perspective, effectively ensures that most people will see content that is aligned with their worldview. So you'll see the pro IDF stuff, you will see the cases of anti semitism on college campuses, you won't see the IDF blowing up babies or whatever. And yeah, that shifts public opinion.
In a country of free speech, they're rarely gonna fully ban viewpoints, although American companies have been kind of doing this. Targetting "misinformation", most of which IS actual misinformation. Banning people for crappy takes on COVID, vaccines, and ivermectin for example. Or saying that the 2020 election was stolen by democrats. Ya know, that stuff IS misinformation, and they try to suppress those viewpoints because they ARE misinformation, and the fear is the government could also crack down on legit opinions, like maybe we shouldnt all be forced to work 40 hours a week any more, or maybe we should have a UBI (ie, my opinions). Hence why I dont like censorship. it's a bit of a slippery slope. Even if we allow it in cases of like totally unverified and off base opinions, it could quickly devolve into "everything we dont like is misinformation."
As such, I've always been divided on the tiktok ban. Like, I get that we dont want this chinese company pumping anti American content into everyone's social media feeds, but at the same time, is it good that we ban a company and force people onto American networks that all kind of police the state of things to push an entire point of view entirely? Again, I'm not really always of the opinion our propaganda is better than theirs. My actual opinion is all propaganda is bad, but at the same time, all viewpoints should be considered. Like, my model for the internet is actually the pre algorithm internet of the 2000s and early 2010s. I wanna go back to the wild west days, where what ultimately mattered was who had better points and who could argue their points better. Who had the evidence, and who was peddling BS. That's what I wanna go back to. Everything these days is about control and narratives and propaganda, and pushing certain viewpoints, and burying other ones. It's manipulative, and not a good environment. In some ways, im glad to be a millennial. I'm old enough that I remember how the internet used to be, and how it allowed us to break free of the information brokers of old in the old cable media, and I still think the digital divide is relevant to politics today. If you're above say, age 45, youre in the older generations that are driven mostly to the old networks with establishment viewpoints. Or in some cases, youre lucky enough to find your way onto the internet, only to figure out that the earth is flat and taking horse dewormer is the way to beat COVID. But then you got the younger generations, the millennials an zoomers who basically understand the internet. But for millennials, we are more libertarian, more laid back, and I feel like we can hold our own pretty well relatively speaking. Zoomers, all they know are algorithms and social media has always been this weird "safe space" thing where they become intolerant of others opinions and get driven around by all of these algorithms and group think. Which is why you got the woke/anti woke dynamic super strong with them, why their dating lives are crap (of course I'm the one to talk, right?), and why they seem completely and utterly intolerant of opinions that aren't their own. Also why many of them have more extreme views. Because algorithms do ultimately drive extremism. You get into the alt right sphere and you basically are one a fast track to fascism. But then you also got the leftists and the tankies, and yeah.
Honestly, it's a hot mess. And maybe the problem isn't actually tiktok, but social media in general. The internet is, on paper, an excellent tool, opening you up to alternate viewpoints and teaching people critical thinking skills. But at the same time, we're to a point where it's also kinda making people dumber and more politically extreme. And the government doesnt want you reading chinese algorithm driven content. Because they dont want you to become some weirdo anti american tankie. I mean, there is a point there, but at the same time, is the true "out of plato's cave" way to put people into another cave? No. The answer is to enlighten people to make them able to figure out the truth themselves. So yeah. Like Im not gonna say "our propaganda is better than their propaganda", but for those of us who arent already unplugged, we gotta be careful what these people plug themselves into. I can see why we'd wanna get people away from tiktok and onto alternatives. Even though I don't fully support the alternatives either.
Like really, is it too much to ask that we go back to the internet of like 15-20 years ago when it was good? Ugh.
Anyway, why did I start this off by attacking Biden for this? Well, it's because of this. Regardless of what the right answer is here, and we can debate what the right answer is IMO, this ban is gonna be unpopular. Biden is unpopular. He lost the zoomer generation. And banning tiktok is just gonna piss them off further. Because they are smart enough to know what's going on and that it really is "we dont want you seeing certain things." And that's just driving further zoomer resentment of Biden. I actually do think fighting an information war and trying to push people toward the "right" propaganda sources is backfiring and that people will just end up hating people more. Democrats are losing the modern culture war. on ALL fronts. And it's because in 2016 they stopped being the good guy and started being this cringey lesser evil that everyone knows is still evil, and they keep trying to bully people into their narrative. We know people are trying to control the narrative, it's obvious. And it's so obvious it's actually creating pushback. And zoomers are pissed.
Oh, and when tiktok got banned, what did they do? Well, they said that trump might fix it. Like...we're on the last day of the Biden presidency and this is what we're going out on. And if Trump does indeed reach an agreement with tiktok and reverse the ban, he's gonna be the good guy here. Like, democrats dont understand that. The more they try to bully and corral young people into their sphere of influence, the more these people are gonna push back. And if trump ends up being the good guy, then democrats are gonna lose people...to trump. We cant afford to lose more people to trump. But he's gonna be able to be like "big bad biden banned tiktok, and i fixed it for you." And you know what? A lot of zoomers will love him just for that. So way to hand Trump a win, Joe, way to go. See, this is why democrats cant actually win. Rather than be what people actually want them to be, they have to be this weird lesser evil party that does nothing good for you but then turns around and pisses you off by taking away your favorite social media sight in the name of information control. Honestly, the whole attempt to control the narrative by democrats in the past decade is a failure. They have. Let's face it, they have. They astroturfed the fudge out of reddit. They banned certain viewpoints from facebook. They also policed twitter until Elon Musk bought it, and I know that take of give him a change aged like milk for me. And now because they cant control tiktok, they banned that. And what is all of this doing? Driving more people to spread misinformation out of spite, driving people to whackjobs like Trump and RFK, and what do we get for it? Nothing. We lose elections. Our candidates lose popularity. Because unlikable buttholes, to be frank. Let's be honest. That's what the democrats are. They're the boring fun police. And everyone hates them for it.
So maybe this isn't the way to go after all. Because people are seeing through it and adopting the alternative viewpoint even harder out of spite. Honestly, democrats in particular need to take a really hard look in the mirror the next four years and really think about what drove them to this rock bottom. Because I can assure them, it's almost entirely their own fricking fault.
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